Turco clears waivers, joins Bruins for practice

WILMINGTON – As the minutes leading up to noon counted
down, Claude Julien and the Bruins might not have been staring up
at the clock with bated breath waiting for the little hand to point
north at 12, but there’s no doubt that the Black and Gold got
a little antsy on Wednesday morning.

Marty Turco's last NHL appearance came on
March 17, 2011, for the Blackhawks. (Getty)

After signing Marty Turco to be the backup for the remainder of
the regular season, it was no lock that the veteran netminder would
definitely be a Bruin, as a number of other NHL clubs
could’ve claimed him off waivers.

Thankfully for Boston, who will be without Tuukka Rask for a
month-plus, no other club foiled their plan.

“I think we wanted him here and I think he wanted to be
here, so you hope that it was going to work out,” coach
Claude Julien said. “When you run into that kind of injury
that Tuukka went through after the trade deadline, and then your
No. 1 goaltender in Providence is injured at this moment, to be
able to get a guy like him is certainly a bonus. I think we were
all happy once noon came around and he was still with
us.”

Turco partook in his first practice with the B’s, most of
which was focused on getting his game back up to NHL speed after
spending some time playing in Austria this season.

“I thought his enthusiasm was there. You could see he was
working hard at feeling that puck and getting his timing and
everything else,” Julien said. “That’s exactly
what you’d expect from a goaltender who is practicing for the
first time in a little while. The shots he’s taking here are
a little bit different than the league he played in. We know how
good of a goaltender he’s been, so it’s not an
issue.”

Julien said he’s unsure of when Turco will debut for the
club, as that’s contingent upon him simply being ready for
duty. That, in turn, means the workload Tim Thomas will take on
down the stretch is still to be determined.

“We’ll have to play it by ear and see how Marty
is,” the Bruins bench boss said. “There’s other
ways to give goaltenders rest. If Timmy has to miss a practice here
or there, whatever the case, not going on the ice for a day is the
same as not playing a game. You find ways. I think we’ll kind
of balance all of that when the time comes and make the right
decisions.”

Asked whether or not Turco has had success against his squads in
years past, Julien noted that’s essentially a moot point
now.

“I haven’t really looked at that,” he said,
“but what I hope is that he has success with us.”

Paille, Ference making progress

Injured forward Dan Paille and banged-up blueliner Andrew
Ference both saw some ice time before the team’s full
practice.

“Well they skated for the first time today, on their
own,” said Julien. “They’re still day-to-day. I
would say doubtful for tomorrow unless something miraculous happens
in the next 24 hours. We don’t expect them being out too
long.”

Benoit Pouliot, meanwhile, saw less than five minutes of ice
time in Tuesday’s 5-4 win over the Leafs due to a lower-body
injury. He did not skate on Wednesday.

“He’s day-to-day,” Julien said. “We kept
him off the ice today for more of the precaution part of it.
We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and make a decision based on
whether he’s feeling better and whether he can go or not